The present invention relates to a device for treating elongate food products in a process space using a conditioned airflow, comprising: a housing bounding the process space, with a feed opening arranged in the housing and a discharge opening arranged in the housing for respectively carrying elongate food products into the process space and discharging thereof from the process space, transport means for displacing the elongate food products through the process space, blowing means for generating an airflow in the process space, and conditioning means for conditioning the airflow.
In the treatment of elongate food products, and more particularly sausages, there is, depending on the type of product, a need to condition the products. Several examples of conditioning are: drying and heating the products. In the production of larger quantities of food products use is usually made of continuous production lines, wherein the products for conditioning are preferably moved through a determined process space. Used for this purpose according to the prior art are vertically disposed process spaces through which a conveyor belt with products moves in helical manner. The advantage of drying towers is that they can provide a great drying capacity on a limited floor area. On the other hand, the existing drying towers are often less simple to place in a conventional manufacturing area, and they are less advantageous in terms of energy.
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved device for treating elongate food products in a process space with a conditioned airflow with which, while retaining the advantages of the prior art, elongate food products can be treated in more effective manner. It is also an object to provide a device which can be installed in relatively simple manner.